The present invention relates to fuel cells, and in particular, the production of electricity and hydrogen chloride from the conversion of hydrogen and chlorine gas to hydrogen and chloride ions in a hydrochloric acid or hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride solution.
A substantial industry exists in this country and worldwide for the generation of chlorine gas for industrial uses by electrolysis of a sodium chloride electrolyte. Such plants typically additionally produce sodium hydroxide or caustic soda which, has industrial applications, and hydrogen gas which, in the main, is considered a waste product and burned for release to the environment. Such chlorine generators are typically with a cation selective membrane or porous diaphragm barrier in the electrolyte between the anode and cathode electrodes, and the electrolyte on the anode side of the barrier, where chlorine gas is generated in the oxidation portion of the electrolysis reaction, must be maintained in a slightly acidic condition in order to prevent oxygen generation and other parasitic reactions. Typically, the acidity of the anode region is maintained by burning a small portion of the hydrogen and chlorine gases generated by the chlorine generator system in a reactor from which the resulting hydrogen chloride is fed back to the anode region of the electrolysis cell or cells in the chlorine generator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,115 there is disclosed a system where, in the production of chlorine gas by electrolysis, the hydrogen and chlorine or other halogen gases are reacted in a catalytic reaction to form the corresponding acid. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,236 a reversable electrolyte cell is disclosed for the production of either chlorine or hydrogen chloride. Neither of these references address the loss of energy employed in dealing with the waste products or in the hydrogen chloride generation for the chlorine electrolysis process.